ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

BERNT WILLS PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL #510

DATES: 1940-1976

SIZE: 5 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Bernt Wills Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection (Acc.# 78-546). The acquisition records are unavailable.

ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS:

North Dakota-The Northen Prairie State, Bernt Wills: 1963
F636.W5

North Dakota Geography and Early History, Bernt Wills: 1967
F636.3.W5

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Bernt Lloyd Wills was born on July 24, 1909 in Drake, N.D. He grew up in Central Montana, but graduated from high school in Casselton, North Dakota. He taught and administered public schools in North Dakota from 1928 to 1942. In 1934, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Valley City State Teachers College in Valley City, North Dakota. In 1937 he received a Master of Arts degree from Montana State University, Missoula, Montana. He earned a Ph. D from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1953.

Wills started teaching geography at the University of North Dakota in 1943. From 1944-1946, he served in the United States Navy. Upon his return in 1946, he was named chairman of an independent geography department at UND. In 1963, he wrote a book entitled North Dakota: The Northern Prairie State. He stepped down from his chairmanship in 1964 to resume as a full time professor. In 1967, he wrote a second book entitled North Dakota Geography and Early History. Upon completion of the book, he left for Australia and New Zealand for a year long sabbatical. He was awarded the Alumni Association Award for outstanding teaching in 1976.

Dr. Wills served as National Vice President of Gamma Theta Upsilon, a national professional geographic fraternity, from 1953-1955 and as National President from 1955-1957. He was the first president of the Association of North Dakota Geographers, and also served as an editor of “The Bulletin,” for ten years. He was also a member of the Association of American Geographers, National Council for Geographic Education, North Dakota Academy of Science, and was listed in Who’s Who in American Men of Science.

Wills was involved in many activities around the community, including the Grand Forks Ballet Company, the Grand Forks School Board, and the Boy Scouts of America. He also belonged to Wesley United Methodist Church and served as a youth leader, a lay speaker, and as a member of its board of directors.

On September 25, 1937 he married Evelyn Whitt in Ferdig, Montana. They had two children, James and Karen. Bernt Wills died on July 28, 1985 in Grand Forks.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Bernt Wills Papers consist of materials primarily related to his involvement in the Department of Geography and his career in that field. The collection is divided into six series:

Series I: Personal Materials (Box 1)
This series contains materials pertaining to Wills' personal life, including correspondence, organizations he was involved with, higher institutions he attended, and his work on attaining a Doctoral Dissertation from Northwestern University.

Series II:University of North Dakota Department of Geography (Box 1)
This series consists of information pertaining to UND's Department of Geography of which Wills was the chairman.Included is correspondence, class information, and general departmental business.

Series III:Reports and Speeches (Box 1)
This series consists of reports and speeches written by Wills while attending college and at the beginning of his career at UND.

Series IV:Organizations (Box 2)
Included in this series are materials related to Gamma Theta Upsilon, a national professional geographic fraternity. Wills was an active member in GTU, and the materials in this series consist mainly of correspondence while he served as the national Vice President and President of the fraternity. Also included are materials related to Wills’ involvement in the Association of North Dakota Geographers, the Association of American Geographers, the National Council for Geographic Education, and Sigma Xi, an honorary research fraternity.

Series V: Course Materials (Box 2-3)
This series includes information that Wills collected during his time at UND as a professor. The materials in this series includes summer institutions, curriculum, lecture notes, and information on individual countries. Also included are student papers, information on North Dakota, and Geography for Teachers. This series is continued in Box 5.

Series VI:North Dakota: The Northern Prairie State (Box 3-4)
Wills worked very actively in studying the geography of North Dakota and the information he gathered was compiled into his book entitled, North Dakota: The Northern Prairie State. This series consists of correspondence for this book as well as rough drafts and notes.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder
SERIES I: Personal Material

1. Air AGE Education Division, Correspondence, 1957
2. Air Force ROTC, 1959
3. Archaeological Institute of America, 1964
4. Ballet Co. Grand Forks, 1961
5. Blue Cross and Blue Shield, 1973 (Folder removed and given to family)
6. Camp Ritchi Conservation Camp Journal, 1963
7. Certificates, personal
8. Class Reunion, 1975
9. Dinosaur Hunting License
10. Experiment in international living, 1960
11. Founders Day Camp
12. Insurance (Folder removed and given to family)
13. Newspaper Clippings
14. North Dakota Education Association, panel discussion, 1964 and rosters
15. NDSSA, 1959
16. Pan American Highways, 1962
17. Personal Correspondence, 1967, 1974-1976
18. Personal Correspondence, Hawaii, 1958, 1967
19. Personal Correspondence, House and Lot (Folder removed and given to family)
20. Photographs (Folder removed and placed in OGL Photograph Collection)
21. Political and religious philosophy
22. Radioactive fallout, 1959
23. Red River Valley Facts, Grand Forks Herald, 1966
24. Social Science Association, 1964
25. Teachers Insurance Retirement Funds
26. Teachers Retirement of North Dakota, 1948, 1953
27. United States Navy Reserve (USNR) 1944-1946, 1948-1953, 1955
28. United States Navy Reserve (USNR) 1944-1946, 1948-1953, 1955
29. Wills, James and Karen (Folder removed and given to family)

Doctoral Dissertation

30. Connecticut River Valley
31. Field Course, 1950
32. Field paper, Puerto Rico
33. Garment Industry of Chicago, 1950
34. Structure Problems, 1944

Higher Institutions Attended

35. Clark University, 1948-1950
36. Clark University Rosters, 1942
37. Montana State University, Alumni News, 1955-1956
38. Montana State University, Alumni News, 1955-1956
39. Northwestern University, 1950-1951, 1953-1954
40. Northwestern University, 1950-1951, 1953-1954
41. Northwest University Bibliography, 1950
42. University of Wyoming, 1963
43. Vita, 1966

SERIES II: University of North Dakota Department of Geography

44. Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps
45. American Meteorology Society
46. Annual Reports, 1955-1965
47. Army maps, 1948-1951, 1958, 1959
48. Class Rosters
49. Correspondence, general, 1952, 1970, 1972-1974, 1976
50. Crowell Colliers Encyclopedia
51. Curriculum, Committee, ROTC, 1952, 1953
52. Curriculum, Subcommittee, 1958
53. Departmental Business
54. Division of Continuing Education, 1976
55. Earth Science Degree Requirements
56. Economic Development Commission, 1960
57. Equipment Selection (dept.) 1962-1963
58. Evaluation of students, 1972
59. Exams for graduates
60. Extension division, 1959, 1962, 1964
61. Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1969
62. Field trips; local
63. Faculty Lecture Series, 1961-1962
64. Foundation Grant Project, Williston, ND
65. Fullbright, 1960-1962
66. Geographic Education
67. Geography Department, n.d.
68. Geography and the liberal arts college
69. Geography requirements, report, 1960
70. Grolier Society (ND State Article) 1960-1963, 1965-1966, 1968-1970
71. Grolier Society (ND State Article) 1960-1963, 1965-1966, 1968-1970
72. History, Graduate Goals, 1957
73. Land Economics Foundation
74. Letters of recommendation, 1970-1974, 1976
75. National Science Foundation
76. Newsletters
77. North Dakota: Business and Industrial Development Department
78. Preamble for a higher education, report
79. Sabbatical leave, 1965-1967, 1971
80. Student Assistants, 1960-1965
81. Student Status Sheets (Graduates) 1944-1946, 1948-1951, 1953-1961, 1963
82. United States Geological Survey, 1959
83. Valley City State College, Geography Department history
84. Williston Extension, 1957

SERIES III: Reports and Speeches

85. College papers, 1943-1946, 1949
86. Geography is Fun
87. Geography and World Power
88. Health and Recreation
89. History and Nature of Geography
90. Recreation
91. Special Speeches
92. The Terrestrial Globe in Space-Age

Box 2
Folder
SERIES IV:Organizations

1. Gamma Theta Upsilon, undated
2. Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1970-1973, 1975
3. Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1960-1961, 1963, 1969
4. Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1958-1959
5. Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1957
6. Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1956
7. Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1950-1955
8. Sigma Xi Correspondence, 1975
9. Association of North Dakota Geographers, undated
10. Association of North Dakota Geographers, 1964-1968, 1971-1973
11. Association of North Dakota Geographers, 1958-1959, 1961-1963
12. Association of North Dakota Geographers, 1954-1957
13. Association of North Dakota Geographers, 1947-1950
14. Association of North Dakota Geographers, undated membership rosters
15. Association of American Geographers, 1972
16. National Council for Geographic Education, 1947, 1955, 1937, 1959-1961, 1963

SERIES V: Course Materials

17. In-Service Institutes, 1963-1966
18. Institute field trips (Northern Minnesota), 1962
19. Institute field trips (Northern Minnesota), 1962
20. Summer Institute, 1964, 1965
21. Summer Institute, 1964, 1965
22. Summer Institute, 1964, 1965
23. Summer Institute Budgets, 1961-1963
24. Summer Institute

Curriculum

25. Conservation of Resources booklets, lecture notes, exams
26. Geography for Teachers, Correspondence, 1947, 1960-1962, course outline
27. Geography for Teachers, Correspondence, 1947, 1960-1962, course outline
28. Geography of Europe
29. Geography of North America geologic bibliography (INC), exams
30. Geography of North America geologic bibliography (INC), exams
31. Geography of North Dakota, course outline, lecture notes
32. Human Geography, handouts, notes
33. Meteorology, exams, lecture notes
34. Meteorology, exams, lecture notes
35. Political Geography, reading list and exams
36. Physical/ College Geography, exams
37. Physical Geography, lab exercises and lecture notes
38. Physical Geography, lab exercises and lecture notes
39. Physiography (Clark University), lecture notes, 1940-1943
40. Physiography (Clark University), lecture notes, 1940-1943
41. Physiography (Northwestern), outline
42. Political Geography, notes and exams
43. Settlement Geography, lecture notes, handouts
44. Settlement Geography, lecture notes, handouts
45. Urban Geography
46. World Regional Geography

Lecture Notes

47. Corn and forage crops
48. Earth in space
49. Fiber culture
50. Forests, note cards
51. Glaciers, note cards
52. Grasslands and Grazing, note cards
53. Life forms- plant and animal
54. Lowlands
55. Manufacturing, Nature and Distributions
56. Outline

Box 3
Folder

1. Metals, outline, note cards
2. Minnkota power coop.
3. Missouri River, 1962
4. Oceania, notes
5. Petroleum Industry
6. Rotation and revolution, earth is space
7. Rubber
8. Soils
9. Transportation
10. Water supply, Correspondence, 1958
11. Windchill, 1958-1959

Individual Countries

12. Australia Film Correspondence, 1976
13. No folder - misnumbered
14. Australia/New Zealand Lecture Notes and Course Outline
15. Australia/New Zealand Map Test and Drop Quiz
16. Australia/New Zealand Final Exams
17. Australia/New Zealand Film Correspondence, 1969-1975
18. India; Pakistan; Ceylon
19. Japan
20. Korea
21. Middle America
22. South America
23. South America
24. United Nations
25. United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR)

Student Papers

26. The Alps of Switzerland (Clark University)
27. The American Food Problem
28. Audiovisual resources for developing map skills
29. Australia and New Zealand, 1970, 1976
30. Better intergroup relations through the geography of foods
31. Bibliographies (assorted)
32. Central Place Theory
33. China: Geopolitic in the development
34. Cotton Manufacturing in New England
35. Democratic Ideals and Reality
36. The Earth's age
37. Geographic Determinism
38. Geography
39. Geography for the blind
40. Japan
41. Mapping is fun, 1961
42. Mesabi Range, 1961, 1963
43. Method of Procedure for a field trip
44. Metals, Individual Research
45. The Moon, eclipse, and tide
46. North Americas, Geography of
47. Physical- Soil and Water, 1961
48. Political Geography
49. Regional Geography, 1963, 1970, 1972
50. South Vietnam
51. Southeastern Asia
52. The Sundowners
53. The Twenty-first Century
54. Territorial Waters
55. U.S.S.R.
56. Student Papers: 1969
57. Student Papers: 1970
58. Student Papers: 1971
59. Student Papers: Undated
60. Student Evaluations: Undated

North Dakota

61. Badlands, 1961
62. Cities and Counties, 1962, 1963
63. Conservation of Resources
64. Coal Gasification, 1974
65. Geography, North Dakota
66. Guy, William, Governor of North Dakota
67. Lake Aggassiz
68. North Dakota, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1969
69. Red River Valley, 1961, 1962
70. State Parks; recreation/ tourism, 1947, 1961, 1964
71. Topography of a slope region

Geography for Teachers

72. College Freshman, Lesson Plan, 1976
73. Geography Teaching of 1963
74. High School
75. High School, Lesson Plan
76. Junior High
77. Lesson Plans/ Teachers Requirements
78. Primary Grades
79. Primary Grades, Activities, 1961
80. Primary Grades, Lesson Plans, 1961
81. Primary Grades, Mapping
82. Primary Grades, Weather
83. Visual Aides- need for

SERIES VI: North Dakota: The Northern Prairie State

84. American Oil Company, Mandan, ND
85. Borden Foods Company, Grafton, ND
86. Chamber of Commerce, Bismark, ND, 1962
87. Chamber of Commerce, Devils Lake, ND, 1962
88. Chamber of Commerce, Dickenson, ND, 1962
89. Chamber of Commerce, Ellendale, ND, 1962
90. Chamber of Commerce, Fargo, ND, 1962
91. Chamber of Commerce, Jamestown, ND, 1962
92. Chamber of Commerce, Kenmare, ND, 1962
93. Chamber of Commerce, Lisbon, ND, 1962
94. Chamber of Commerce, Mandan, ND, 1962
95. Chamber of Commerce, Mayville, ND, 1962
96. Chamber of Commerce, Valley City, ND, 1962
97. Chamber of Commerce, Wahpeton, ND, 1962
98. Chamber of Commerce, Williston, ND, 1962
99. Dakota Wood Producers, Bottineau ND, 1962
100. Figure and Table Charts
101. Mary College, Bismark, ND, 1962
102. North Dakota School of Forestry, Bottineau, ND 1962
103. Pillsbury Co., Grand Forks, ND, 1962
104. Red Dot Foods Inc., Grand Forks, ND, 1962
105. Red River Valley Potato Flake Co., Grand Forks, ND, 1962
106. Rogers Brothers Food Production, Grand Forks, ND, 1962
107. State Historical Society, 1962
108. State Mill and Elevator
109. Truax-Traer Coal Company, Minot, ND, 1962

Box 4
Folder

1. Agriculture
2. The Arts
3. Cities
4. Clays
5. Climate
6. Community Development
7. Conservation
8. Corn in ND
9. Crops of ND, Chapter 12
10. Dairying in ND
11. Education in ND
12. Edwards Bros.
13. Electric Power
14. Forests
15. Fruit
16. General
17. Glaciation Map
18. Government
19. Grassland Shrub and Forest
20. Highways
21. History
22. Industrial Development
23. Land (Topography)
24. Libraries
25. Mineral Resources
26. Missouri Diversion
27. Northern School Supply
28. Outlook, Problems, Future
29. Petroleum
30. Pictures (ND), letters (Folder removed and placed in OGL Photograph Collection)
31. Population
32. Potatoes in ND
33. Rehabilitation
34. Some North Dakota Industry
35. Stone
36. Space Relationships
37. Special Days
38. Sodium Sulfate
39. Stories
40. Student Manual, "North Dakota: The Northern Prairie State."
41. Sugar Beets
42. Textbook Orders and Correspondence, 1965, 1968, 1970-1976, 1978
43. Transportation
44. Water, ND
45. Wild animals of ND
46. Wheat

SEPARATIONS RECORD

Thirty-two photographs were separated and placed in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection. The first fifteen relate to a missile defense system, Safeguard. The photographs are undated; their relationship to Bernt Wills is unknown. Other photographs depict Dr. Bernt Wills, the Maddock Public School, aerial views of North Dakota, and unidentified photos.

Safeguard Missile Defense System:

B.L. Wills:

Maddock Public School, Maddock, ND:

Aerial Views of North Dakota:

Miscellaneous:

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